Travel

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Kiyokawa had been on my to-try list for some time since Jonathan Gold loved it so much, but I had sort of forgotten about this little place in Beverly Hills and stored it in the back of my mind. I recently dug it out and made it a point to finally go.

There are two omakase options at Kiyokawa, a full omakase (kaiseki) for $78 or a sushi-only omakase for $48. As I sat down and read the omakase menu there were things like miso black cod and other cooked items, but then they told me to ignore the menu. They had just started a new omakase menu and it was completely different than what was written. They recently changed the omakase menu to be more sashimi-focused rather than cooked dishes. Sounds even better to me.

Sushi Chef Satoshi Kiyokawa

Our first course came in an orange sitting on ice. Inside the orange was some halibut sashimi with cucumber sunomono and tomato

Albacore salad topped w crispy green onion

This was a rather big plate for a second course with plenty of albacore. As the ponzu sauce that normally comes with albacore tends to be too astringent for me at times, I preferred this.

Live sweet shrimp and Hama Hama oyster topped with uni

Did I mention the amaebi was a live? The legs attached to the head were still moving on the ice! (Sorry PETA)

Still, the oyster with the creamy uni stole the show for me.
They asked how we wanted the amaebi head prepared so we got one of each, fried and in miso soup.

As much as I like fried things, the miso soup was superb. I would probably stick with that next time.

Inside was another three-style preparation, this time of abalone: sashimi w citrus pepper, deep fried, sautéed

The sashimi was again my favorite, of course:

Next course was the five pieces of sushi: uni, hamachi, snapper, toro, ... and one other I can't remember.

The fish was fresh and the pieces generous. There was just the right amount of rice packed airily but without losing its form when you pick them up (unlike the warm-rice-style, which I also appreciate for other reasons).

For dessert there's only yuzu sorbet or black sesame ice cream, both made in house. The sesame ice cream was good but the yuzu sorbet, which had more of a shaved ice consistency, was so refreshing that we had to order another one. They were happy we liked it so much that they gave us another bowl for free.

I'm so glad I finally made it to Kiyokawa. I can already see myself returning here time and time again. The service was courteous and prompt. The courses was paced properly and I did not have to sit around waiting for long. I never had Kiyokawa's original kaiseki-style omakase, but I loved the new sashimi-style menu and thought that at $78, it was one of the better deals you can find in town.